Ghana,WHO Organizes Simulation Exercise to Tackle Disaster
Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in collaboration with World Health Organization ( WHO) joined United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), Médicins sans frontières (MSF) in a comprehensive simulation exercise from November 11 to 15, 2024 as part of the nation’s readiness to effectively respond to disaster in health related outbreaks.
The simulation exercise is currently ongoing at the Critical Care and Emergency Hospital, operated by the Ghana Armed Forces (formerly the UN COVID-19 field hospital), as a full-scale simulation exercise that will test the first solution developed within INITIATE2, an Infectious Disease Treatment Module (IDTM), and Health Emergency Facility (HEF) kits—state-of-the-art treatment and containment solutions developed to rapidly set up essential facilities in remote or crisis-affected areas.
This takes away the need to transport individuals over long distances to treatment facilities, with increased risks of spreading the infections and is also aligned with the principle of containment-at-source.
Key partners such as, Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana National Ambulance Service and other civil society are doing the best they can to make the simulation a success one.
The Commander critical care and Emergency hospital, Brig Gen EVELYN VIVIAN KWABIAH in her remarks said the exercise was in line with the country’s mandate to coordinate agencies and stakeholders towards the management of activities with humanitarian consequences.
Brig Gen Kwabiah assured the various stakeholder of the mission of the critical care emergency hospital to support the Ghana Armed Forces as a center of excellence, by providing specialized critical care and emergency services, training, and research for Ghana and the west Africa sub-region with stakeholders engagement.
He commended WHO for the initiative and urged stakeholders and government agencies to work together to ensure successful simulation exercise.
The officer in charge of world health organization Ghana, Dr Frank Lule, in his interaction with members of the press said the pre-disaster simulation exercise comes at a crucial time as Ghana prepares for upcoming disaster related issues.
He said the WHO had identified four key areas
Strengthening Collaboration and Coordination: Building closer partnerships among health organizations, emergency responders and military support teams.
Hands-On Training with Innovative Solutions: Introducing participants to the IDTM and HEF kits, designed for rapid deployment, to test their practicality in various settings.
Comprehensive Case Management: Conducting full patient journey demonstrations, from initial diagnosis and treatment to discharge or dignified care for non-survivors. he added.
Also in attendance was Juan Emmanuel Dewez who is the chief of health and nutrition UNICEF Ghana was of the view that the simulation exercise marks a significant step towards enhancing the capacity of Ghana and its neighboring countries to manage large-scale population displacements effectively.
By: frank owusu obimpeh.
